Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman commended his team following their victory over Texas A&M on Saturday. Freeman remarked, “That was a huge victory for our program over a really, really good football team,” according to Dave Wilson of ESPN. He further noted, “(Our) defense played lights out, (forced) turnovers.”
The game saw the Aggies as the favorites, playing at home. However, Notre Dame’s defense limited Texas A&M to 13 points and 246 yards of offense. Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman had a challenging performance, recording two interceptions and completing only 12 passes for 100 yards.
Riley Leonard, who transferred from Duke, made his first career start for Notre Dame. He accumulated 221 total yards with 18 completions and no turnovers. Leonard’s performance contributed to Notre Dame securing its first road win against an SEC opponent ranked in the AP Poll since 2004.
Leonard commented on the challenging environment, saying, “That’s an environment that I’m sure none of us have really ever played in before. The SEC is different. Coming down here in Texas is different.” He added, “If we can go into this environment and beat a team like that, that’s coached as well as they are, I feel like that gives us all the confidence in the world to go into any environment in the country.”
Freeman’s record as Notre Dame’s head coach is now 20-8. The Fighting Irish will next face Northern Illinois on September 7.
